Playful, edgy, clever and satirical, the works in Space invaders have appeared in city streets around Australia. Street art has significantly altered Australian visual culture, especially over the past decade. It has announced the arrival of a new generation of contemporary artists.
This exciting exhibition looks at street art of the past 10 years by more than 40 of the most prolific and infamous street artists working in Australia today. The works are from the Gallery’s growing collection of street art—the only one of its kind in an Australian public gallery.

From his studio in New York, Australian-born Anton Bruehl created inventive and perfectly realised colour photographs for Condé Nast magazines such as Vogue. His work ranges across advertising, images of stars of stage, screen and socialites to his personal photography in the classic documentary tradition.

Anton BruehlModel Ruth Curlett in red sun hat 1936
for Vogue, 1 July 1936
colour print National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Gift of American Friends of the National Gallery of Australia Inc., New York NY USA
made possible with the generous support of Anton Bruehl Jr, 2006

Life, death and magic: 2000 years of Southeast Asian ancestral art introduces the lively, often frightening, sometimes fantastic supernatural world of ancestors and nature spirits. The serene stone monuments, large gold ornaments, architectural decorations, huge ancient bronzes and images of mythical beasts, created to entice the divine and repel the demonic, date from prehistoric to modern times.

Robert Dowling holds a special place in the history of Australian art. He was the first artist to be trained in Australia and was renowned for his paintings of pastoralists and their properties, Indigenous people and biblical themes. This is the first major exhibition of his oeuvre, including his much-lauded oriental subjects.

Shimmer examines the many ways artists have employed colour, pattern, line and materials to give their work a special energy in the eye of the viewer. Through a display of works from the national collection, this exhibition explores various interpretations of the
power of patterns.

Hans Heysen (1877–1968) is one of Australia’s best-known artists. He was an influential artist, one whose work was pivotal to the development of Australian landscape art in the twentieth century. Comprising 80 works, the exhibition includes oil paintings, watercolours, drawings and prints.